More than 23,000 chickens on a poultry farm in Yunlin County were killed and culled on New Year's day due to avian flu breakout, according to Taiwan's Animal and Plant Disease Center.

The slaughter of the chickens was conducted on the farm in Dounan Township after it was confirmed said the center in a statement.The farm's livestock had been struck by the highly pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza or commonly known as bird's flu.A total of 53 poultry farms in Taiwan were confirmed to have been hit by avian flu in whole of 2019 with a total of 289,000 birds culled.

The center noted that the March-July and November-December periods are the peak seasons in Taiwan for avian flu that affects chickens, ducks, geese and turkey on different farms in Taiwan.